Page No.# 1/3 GAHC010001232025 2025:GAU-AS:1901 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : AB/59/2025 HIMANGO KALITA @ MANGO S/O LT. DIPU KALITA R/O VILL- NEW COLONY BONGAIGAON, P.S. AND DIST. BONGAIGAON, ASSAM VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM REP BY THE PP, ASSAM Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M KHAN, MS J AKTAR Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM, Page No.# 2/3 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANASH RANJAN PATHAK ORDER 21.02.2025 Heard Mr. M Khan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. M P Goswami, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Assam for the State. 2. Apprehending his arrest, the petitioner, namely, Himango Kalita @ Mango, son of late Dipu Kalita, resident of village-New Colony, P.S.-Bongaigaon, District- Bongaigaon, has filed this application under Section 482 of BNSS, 2023, seeking pre-arrest bail in Bongaigaon Police Station Case No. 317/2024 registered under Sections 21(b)/29 of NDPS Act, 1985 corresponding to G.R. No. 536/2024. 3. As per the FIR dated 13.09.2024 lodged by a Sub-Inspector of Police before the Officer- in-Charge of Bongaigaon Police Station, the prosecution’s case is that on receipt of information from reliable source that a drugs Paddler namely, Fwilao Basumatary was going to sale/deal in illicit trafficking of NDPS items at Railway New Colony, Bongaigaon to local consumers, the said information was entered as Bongaigaon Police Station GDE No. 33 dated 13.09.2024. With due authorization of search and seizure police personnel from Bongaigaon Police Station proceeded to the relevant place at Railway New Colony, Namghar, Bongaigaon and apprehended said Fwilao Basumatary and in presence of independent witnesses from his possession recovered 5 numbers of plastic containers containing suspected Heroin weighing 6.32 Grams. During interrogation, said Fwilao Basumatary revealed that he purchased the said NDPS item from the present petitioner Himango Kalita. Thereafter, duly authorized police personnel for search and seizure from Bongaigaon Police Station conducted search in the house of the present petitioner in presence of independent witnesses and recovered 74 Nos. of empty vials from his house and during such search, the petitioner remained absent in his house. 4. Accordingly, said FIR dated 13.09.2024 was registered as Bongaigaon Police Station Case No. 317/2024 registered under Sections 21(b)/29 of the NDPS Act. Page No.# 3/3 5. Mr. Khan, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that confession of the co-accused cannot be treated as substantive evidence and therefore, the petitioner is entitled for pre-arrest bail in the case in hand. 6. The Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of the State of Haryana Vs. Samarth Kumar (Criminal Appeal No. 1005/2022), decided on 20.07.2022 and in the case of Anarul Sk. Vs. the State of West Bengal in Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 12621/2024 by order dated 19.09.2024 have held that “to grant anticipatory bail pertaining to recovery of NDPS item is not really warranted”. 7. The Hon’ble Apex Court also observed that the accused persons involved in such recovery of NDPS items granted the advantage of decision in the case of Tofan Singh Vs. State of Tamil Nadu while arguing for regular bail by filing a necessary application at the time of final hearing. 8. Considering the above observations of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the cases of Samarth Kumar (Supra) and Anarul Sk. (Supra) and finding that 6.32 Grams of Heroin was recovered in the case from the co-accused of the case who allegedly purchased the same from the petitioner, this Court is of the view that it is not a fit case to grant pre-arrest bail to the petitioner, named above, in said Bongaigaon P.S. Case No. 317/2024. 9. Accordingly, this pre-arrest application of the petitioner, namely, Himango Kalita @ Mango, son of late Dipu Kalita in said Bongaigaon Police Station Case No. 317/2024 stands rejected. JUDGE Comparing Assistant